


Learning To Survive

by wittykitsune



Category: Homestuck, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Enderkat, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minestuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 08:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/783957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wittykitsune/pseuds/wittykitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When children of the world of the mines reach a certain age they have to leave their villages to complete given tasks. Some are harder than others but all teach survival skills. They can't get help from any village but from others on quests and friendly and maybe not so friendly mobs are another story.</p><p>Dave Strider has been given one of the hardest tasks imaginable and as he works to finish it he meets others working on their own goals as well as an Endermen named Karkat Vantas who may be able to help him achieve it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spawn Point

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the Minestuck AU of tumblr user blimpcat. http://blimpcat.tumblr.com/ I will probably deviate from some of the things she has laid out for the AU but I use enough that I think it merits credit for the inspiration for it.
> 
> This fic will be deviating from Minecraft canon as for how the variant mobs act (ones that seem to have higher reasoning capacity and look different from your average mob), especially since ones like endermen were heavily nerfed.

The world of the mines is a vast and challenging place full of danger and things to be discovered. The people of this world make their way in it with the help of magic and survival skills. While some choose to make large towns fortified against the monsters many prefered to stick to smaller villages and even learn to live on their own.

In most villages there came a time in every person’s life when they would be sent away to prove they are worthy of being an adult. Many never came back but those that did returned with the skill set needed to survive in the dangerous world. It was a cruel practice but it was decided necessary in order to help the communities continue to be capable of protecting themselves. There were always exceptions but those were few and far between. They could choose to refuse the task but then they could be cast out in some stricter places. In others their choice of profession was limited by the skills they'd managed to master within the safety of their society. The survival skills learned were often abilities that helped them take on whatever position they might like or even leave to form their own village or live on their own. They weren’t allowed to go to villages for help though they were allowed to trade and barter with other questers. They weren’t judged for how long it took them to complete it. Not only are these meant to teach survival skills but also meant to give the youths their first taste of true freedom and responsibility. Only they could decide if they wished to return to their homes before or after their complete their tasks.

Each village had different standards and quests. In one village they had to set out and return with a cake they made from gathering ingredients and cooked in something they made themselves. Another they had to collect wool and dyes in a multitude of colors and return with every known color of wool blocks. Another village had its children go out and tame animals and return with certain assigned items that had to be foraged or gotten from certain mobs. Mobs were the generic names given to the monsters that could be found. Most were kept away through villages and the surrounding area being well lit with torches.

One of the toughest villages of all however required that its children go out into the world and create a full set of armor and tools of a certain material. Most children were required to create iron armor, a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel, and a hoe before they could return. Others were given the more difficult gold set. However in that village there was one child was given the unfortunate mission of getting the hardest set to find and the one that would place them in the most danger. A full diamond set. They would have to find and mine at least 35 diamonds to finish it. Diamonds were rare, and while it had been done in the past, most given this quest were never seen again.

~~Day 1~~

Dave Strider had turned sixteen that past winter and now that spring had arrived it was time for him to go out into the wilds and do his rite of passage. Like many youths in the ceremony he was given the magical backpacks that could hold a certain amount of items within certain limits, a boat, a map, three apples, and a wooden axe. The wooden tool given was at the discretion of the village council and they had taken pity on young Strider for being given that most difficult of tasks. Dave’s thank you was laced with sarcasm. All they had done was ensure he wouldn’t have to begin his efforts by punching trees. Bro told him it would build character. Dave knew it might if it didn’t kill him first.

After launching his little boat into the water Dave traveled for a few hours, passing up the first few shores where some of the other youths from his village decided to try their luck. Even if the land did somehow replenish itself over time Dave didn’t want to risk going anywhere that would be too disturbed by human hands. Everyone was always quick to mine any diamonds they saw and he would be needing all he could find. He didn't want to have to beg and barter for them all.

After finally landing on a shore he felt was far enough Dave set to work cutting down all the trees in sight with his wooden axe. He also kept an ear out for the bleating of sheep. He would need three wool blocks to make his bed and he needed a bed for his base. Sleep would keep him safe at night. You never could fall asleep with a mob’s presence nearby and a well lit base could almost guarantee you safety.

After he had gather enough wood he made a crafting table and crafted a wooden sword and a shovel. He ate apples he found as needed and planted seedlings that dropped. He knew he might need to wood later. Dave headed further inland and eventually found a small cave. He lit the inside after finding coal and made a door, mining some of the stone to reshape the inside into a small home for himself. He placed torches outside on either side of the door and in an area in front of the outside. He places a sign outside that said “Dave’s Cave House Keep Out.”

Dave had to wander away from his new home to look for sheep and food. If you got too hungry you’d start feeling weaker and weaker and then you were screwed if anything attacked you. He managed to find two sheep and a stray wool block on the ground as well as a pig which he quickly killed and headed back home to cook the pork in his furnace. Raw meat could get rid of his hunger but cooked meat worked better. When he reached home he went in and put the meat in with wood, he needed the coal for torches. He glanced up and noticed his wall was missing a stone block. He blinked and walked over and touched the place before replacing it.

He stepped outside to say, “What the fuck came in here just to mess up a wall? If this is some kind of prank it is boring and just irritating as hell.” Dave took his shades off for a moment and cleaned them while he considered what could have done it. As far as he knew only someone with a pick could have removed it but why the would you take one block and not any of his belongings if you wanted to steal something? Not to mention stone wasn’t that hard to find. "Why not just change my sign if you want me to know you’re here?” Finding nothing else to suggest anyone was in the area he decided to go back inside, it was getting dark. He didn’t have time to explore further. He wasn’t ready for the mobs that came out at night. He had no armor and his sword would break after too much use and a sword breaking in a battle at night meant game over Strider.

Dave placed his spoils for the day and his spare food in a chest and laid down. As soon as darkness had completely fallen he fell asleep. He didn’t wake when a tall figure loomed over him curiously as he slept, red glowing eyes letting off little sparkles of light and slightly illuminating their light grey face. The figure in all black reached out and took the replacement block from the wall before vanishing with a soft noise. Dave had no idea he’d had a repeat visit until the sun rose.


	2. Settling in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how late this was. I meant to have it finished before a year had passed but it just didn’t happen.

~~Day 5~~

A full stone tool set and the beginnings of a farm were what Dave had to show for the past four days. He had four sheep and that was about all he cared to build a pen into the rock face for. Unless he came across someone else he didn’t have much use for the wool. He’d made a small wheat farm by the river and hoped to move it nearer when he found enough iron for a bucket. Bread, pork from the pigs he found, and the occasional apple from gathering wood might not be much variety but he didn’t feel like looking for more crops, chickens, or cows yet. He was pretty sure stealing or trading from a village would be against the spirit of this, but he did hope he’d come across someone willing to trade him potatoes and carrots, or if rumors were true, he’d find one from dealing with mobs. 

He’d need carrots to keep pigs, well breed pigs. He could keep them all he liked but they wouldn’t make more pigs without carrots. He felt like his current animals were reasonable safe as long as he didn’t hear any hissing. The secondary fence would give him some protection from the green mob known simply as creepers, but he knew there could be accidents especially as creepers weren’t limited to the night. He wondered if a trip out to find a jungle would be worth the risk, he’d have to consider it after a mining expedition. He didn’t feel good about traveling without a compass. A cat could come in handy, but then that also meant finding string for a fishing rod and all that made Dave just want to lay down and groan. It never ended. He always seemed need fifty more things. A Compass, fishing pole, carrots, potatoes, cows, and diamonds. Those weren’t and wouldn’t be the only things but they were what he knew.

The inside of his home he’d expanded to having a basement for storage chests and his crafting area and kitchen. The first floor he kept to his living space but he had plans to create a second floor for that. He wanted to go dig sand from the river for glass as well. It was getting to be cozy but it wasn’t as comfortable or fortified as he would have liked it. Then there was the question of that odd block.

He scowled every time he passed that pocket of wall missing a block. No matter how many times he replaced it he always seemed to find the stone missing again later. He’d tried wool and wood too, but both went missing repeatedly and now he just kept plugging it up with whatever he felt like putting in there. He eventually put a blank sign over the stone block he replaced yet again. Maybe whoever it was would leave him a message finally. He didn’t want to think something was actually wrong with that spot. He’d never heard of anything like it other than some prank.

~~Day 6~~

Dave made sure his belongings were secure, a chest in his bedroom with some decoy things it it, his basement and crafting room hidden by just covering the entrance to look like his floor. It was early morning and after a breakfast of bread and harvesting and replanting his wheat he struck out eastward. He decided he’d try to keep moving in a straight line and not deviate from that in the hopes he could find his way back after exploring. He kept the sun before him so he could turn back a little before it got to the center of the sky. He had bread, a pickaxe, a shovel, a few wheat, some wood, some stone, an axe, and his sword on him. 

He had no clear destination, only the urge to explore his surroundings. He steadied his sword hand, the nerves brought on by being alone for so long with no one to talk to but the animals. He stuck to the most open area in the direction he was heading, careful not to venture too far from the path he’d started. He began to think maybe he should have waited until his torch or flower or even wool supply was better. Breadcrumbs never worked and would be a waste. 

He didn’t run, there was little reason to go rushing. Even less when he almost ended up falling in a small hole with exposed lava that was under the shade of some trees. Dave took a moment to sit and rest and eat a piece of bread. That would have been a ridiculous way to go. He covered the hole with dirt and placed a small two by two square of stone blocks. On top of that he placed a dirt block and found a red flower to put on it. No one else would get the message but he hoped it would remind him if he had any need for lava later. Lava moats were fucking cool right?

He took a moment to cut down a few trees. They were a kind not close to his home. They had white wood and while it looked ugly to build with to him he didn’t mind the idea of using it to make charcoal until he could go mining. He wanted to try finding a cave before going just digging his own shaft. When he happened to look back at the marker he saw the flower was gone. He came over to see if it broke off but he didn’t see it anywhere. He shrugged it off and replaced it with another one. Flowers were weird. He planted the saplings before he left and walked off with with more wood and a few apples for his trouble. 

He didn’t hear the strange noise the figure watching him from the trees made. They’d stayed in the shade and looked at the flower as he drew out of sight. It was bright red, like their eyes and the strange little sparkles coming off them. He vanished from there with another sound, but Dave was long out of hearing distance. 

He’d begun to climb a hill. It seemed like the best way to have a look around and confirm home was behind him. It wasn’t a simply hop up. He had to go over a block or two left or right at times to get up it. He didn’t feel like digging out a smooth way up, he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave too much evidence someone had been around. Though he had to second think that lava marker now. Oh well. 

He reached the summit around the time the sun had reached its apex. He looked back first and grinned, home was safely west and that was comfort and security to him. Getting lost would suck majorly. He turned back around to look before him and stared. “Holy shit.” Before him, almost surrounded by hills on all other sides, was a farm. There were cows and reed and chickens and so many other crops than just wheat but there was lots of wheat. He crouched down and tried to see in the large house. It was three stories high and there were glass windows all around it. It had a large main room and two side smaller rooms, each of which had one like it on the next floor. 

He was still searching for the owner on higher floors when they suddenly came out the front door. It was someone dressed in blue and they had a bucket in their hand. They were heading right for the cows and whistling cheerfully as they went. Whoever it was, they looked to be about his age, maybe a little younger. It was hard to tell from there. He bit his lip and considered. Should he visit or let himself be known or should he sneak down after they left and help himself to things they wouldn’t notice being gone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect regular updates yet. I'm participating in HSWC this year so while I'll try to update again soon I don't know how soon it will be. Not a year again, I promise. I hope.


End file.
